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Reporters sentenced
Three journalists from Al-Jazeera English are sentenced to seven years in prison by an Egyptian court on crimes related to terrorism. The men, an Australian, Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian acting Cairo bureau chief, Mohammed Fahmy, and an Egyptian producer, Baher Mohammed, also receives an extra three years in prison on separate charges. As they were sentenced Greste raises his fists in the air and Fahmy shouts:
I swear they will pay for this
Fahmy’s brother says they will appeal the verdict, but adds that he has little faith in the system.
Everything is corrupt
Sentenced
A judge in Egypt sentences three Al-Jazeera journalists to jail for supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood and operating in Egypt without a licence; Greste and Fahmy for three years, while Mohammed receives an extra six months for possessing a single bullet. Greste will avoid imprisonment as he was deported to Australia and was being tried in absentia, but Fahmy and Mohamed are immediately taken back into police custody after the verdict was given. Greste:
Whatever the consequences, the fact is that this is a judgment that is not based on evidence. Anyone who watched the trial, and we had many people broadcasting or reporting on the trial … none saw any evidence to substantiate the allegations. So we need also to call on international pressure, on governments and diplomats around the world, to make it clear to Egypt that it cannot make these kinds of judgments. The fact is this is wrong, this is unjust, this is unethical, this is immoral on so many levels [and] it cannot be allowed to stand. It cannot be allowed to get away with this.
Urges Egypt to overturn convictions
Clooney, who represents Fahmy, urges the Egyptian President to overturn the Cairo convictions.
The verdict today sends a very dangerous message in Egypt. It sends a message that journalists can be locked up for simply doing their job, for telling the truth and reporting the news…[Every third party who has weighed in on the lengthy case says] there is no evidence to sustain any of the charges….It sends a dangerous message that there are judges in Egypt who will allow their courts to become instruments of political repression and propaganda.
Closing U.S. channel
Al Jazeera America will shut down its cable news channel in April. While the Qatar-based news network has spent heavily to break into the U. S. market, the company says that their business model is not sustainable in light of economic challenges.